Ever Wondered: When Did Exercise Start?

When did exercise start? That is not a question that is easy to answer, although many people wonder about it. Although we are left guessing as to the details, we can be sure that it has been around since men started trying to escape from wild animals. Nowadays we have to incorporate exercise into our lives to remain healthy as an end in itself. We get active without concentrating too much on how the process started.

Early exercise practitioners realized that activity is essential for mental and physical health. The Greeks were the first people to formalize this idea. This idea seemed to languish for hundreds of years before making a very big come-back recently.

There was a resurgence of interest in physical activity by men of science in the early nineteen hundreds. Flint and Krogh each published research suggesting that exercise was a human necessity.

Many people attribute the beginning of the modern interest in physical exercise to Jack La Lanne’s long running TV show. Here he encouraged everyone to get active and to challenge themselves physically. His down to earth approach encouraged viewers to make a commitment to themselves to invest in their own health.

It was not long before the commercial opportunities to be gained from a nation’s interest in fitness began to percolate in the minds of entrepreneurs. Soon there was a huge selection of exercise equipment available in TV ads and magazines. Millions of people buy millions of exercise devices every year. Unfortunately, for these machines to work, the purchasers have to make a pledge to use them regularly. It is a better strategy to take up an exercise routine involving an activity you enjoy. That way you won’t dread your exercise time.

It seems that the answer to the question, ” When did exercise start?” is not nearly as important as the question, “When are you going to start exercising?” There was wisdom in the Greek philosophy about keeping fit. Exercise should be as much a part of our lives as eating and sleeping. History has proven that exercise is essential.